Post Show Thoughts: Trying to Make Sense Out of Tragedy

As the nation mourns the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the issue of guns and violence in America took center stage on Meet the Press. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg discussed what he believes to be a life and death issue and said that he ultimately holds the president responsible to do something about it.

Bloomberg called on President Obama to make gun regulation his "number one agenda."

"If he does nothing during his second term, something like 48,000 Americans will be killed with illegal guns." Bloomberg added that it was "roughly the number of Americans killed in the whole Vietnam War."

Gun control advocate Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) also made news this morning when she announced on the program that she will re-introduce a federal bill to ban assault weapons, reportedly like the one used in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school.

"As a first day bill I'm going to introduce in the Senate and the same bill will be introduced in the House. A bill to ban assault weapons," Feinstein said. "It will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession. Not retroactively but prospectively. And it will ban the same for big clips, drums or strips of more than 10 bullets."

Feinstein was the sponsor of the original assault weapons ban in place from 1994 until Congress allowed it to expire in 2004.

It's also important to note that Meet the Press reached out to all 31 pro-gun rights Senators in the new Congress to invite them to share their views on this subject this morning, but no one took us up on the offer.

You can watch the entire program on our website including our conversation with Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy with the latest on the investigation and how the community is coping in the wake of the tragedy.